Moonlight, Mistletoe, and You, Keb' Mo' (Concord)

As the music business evolves (or devolves, depending upon whether you're trying to make a living from it), we're seeing a lot more artists who are packaging new Christmas albums with winter tours highlighting the music from those albums. Enter popular bluesman Keb' Mo' and this 2019 album collecting a group of familiar tunes alongside some freshly written holiday classics. Start with the original title tune, a solid R'nB ballad, and move on to the bouncy "Better Everyday," the witty "Christmas Is Annoying," the jazzy "One More Year With You," and, trigger warning for kid-sung songs, "When The Children Sing," which is actually not terrible, owing to the fact that they made a point of getting kids who can carry a tune. Keb' also takes on "Please Come Home For Christmas," the blues classics "Santa Claus Santa Claus" and "Santa Claus Blues," and he duets with Melissa Manchester on "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm." Completists like me will carp that Keb' didn't include his past holiday tunes "They Call It Christmas" and "Jingle Bell Jamboree," especially since he titled his tour after the latter tune. But if you've got them, feel free to drop them into the playing sequence for yourself.